No Shots Fired?

During the fiasco of the 2000 election vote counting, I remember seeing a post from a man who said, “This is not a Civil War, there’s no shooting.” I remember that with a wry smile these days. There is no one shooting?

We forget the events outside of Waco where, for right or wrong, the members of the Branch Davidian opened fire on ATF agents.[1] We forget the illegal use of military equipment to quell that civil disturbance.[2] We forget the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.[3] We forget the suspicious downing of flight 800[4] off of Long Island. We forget the Right’s dogging every move of Bill Clinton.[5] We forget Eric Rudolph[6] evading the FBI for years in the Carolinas. We forget the abortion doctors being gunned down in cold blood. One fell in Florida, and one in New York, the latter murder never solved. There is no one shooting?

We forget, also, the perorations and aims of the States Citizens Militias.[7] Often ridiculed as a bunch of guys with their bellies hanging over their belts, these men and women are equally represented by the under-40 crowd who have bought into the myth of a Christian nation which, like England’s Arthurian Camelot, was never as glittering as envisioned in the revisionist history books. Moreover, more often than not, the fundamentalist brought arms to bear against the Constitutional Republic of the United States. There is no one shooting? I think there were plenty of shots fired. We just did not want to admit it.

I think the gentleman in question was referring to no shots being fired in Florida during the confusion on the recount and the insuring conservative street protest. It was funny to see people older than I am, the last hurrah of the 1960s crowd, shouting for the cameras again. He was right; there was no shooting then. We got “hanging chad” reports and not a word about the tens of thousands of disenfranchised voters who, mostly African-American, were falsely accused of being convicted criminals and as such denied their right to vote.

Nope, no one was shooting as the court challenges dragged on. Nope, the GOP played it out and manipulated the system to gain the White House, but there was no shooting. No, the GOP gained power in a bloodless coup.

This is not a radical accusation from the Left. Lost in the hysteria in the aftermath of the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, an independent report was released that showed that Al Gore may have won the election in Florida,[8] and that Mr. Bush’s first presidency was illegitimate. This only reinforces the fact that it is supposed to be the House of Representatives, not the Supreme Court, that settles undecided elections. Why should that small detail in the Constitution get in the way of a power grab?

The 2004 victory, by a whopping 50.7% of the vote,[9] is hardly a mandate in any book. The Right again called on the influence of the religious block to produce some extra four million votes for Mr. Bush. Again, there was questionable balloting, long lines, and possible manipulation and disenfranchising of the voting public. This time it was in Ohio. Bush won by as little as three million votes. This was predicted by, in the name of God, Pat Robertson, the one-time candidate for president and the founder of the virtually defunct Christian Coalition. Was Mr. Robertson’s prediction a revelation from God, or insider information about the election based on knowing what manipulation were going on?

If one accepts fact, then one can congratulate the Right’s seizing the Constitutional Government of the United States without bloodshed. However, after 2008, can they hold it? If they can’t, than what are they going to do? Are we going back to the street warfare that was slowly breaking out from 1992 to 2000?

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[1] Wikipedia: Branch Davidian, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_Dividian

[2] Wikipedia: Waco Siege, Allegations about a cover-up,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_Siege#Allegations_about_a_cover-up

[3] Wikipedia: Oklahoma City bombing, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_Bombing

[4] Wikipedia: TWA Flight 800, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_800

[5] Wikipedia: Bill Clinton, Investigation, impeachment, and controversies,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_clinton#Investigation.2C_impeachment.2C_and_controversies

[6] Wikipedia: Eric Robert Rudolph, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Rudolph

[7] Militia Watchdog Archives, http://www.adl.org/mwd/default.asp

[8] Wikipedia: United States presidential election, 2000, Media post-electoral studies/recounts,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election%2C_2000#Media_post-lectoral_studies.2Frecounts

[9] American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips, 133, 247, 278, 373, 390, 391, 392